Greetings!
According to my informant in the Inquistion, I am a tournament-a-holic. This is most certainly because I love going to tournaments and playing in them. This year has clocked in 20 events (8 of which are Grand Tournaments/Majors). Additionally this trend is repeated across several previous years of 40k playing goodness. I have experienced tournaments of all ranges of success.
Which is why I am sharing this experience with you. In this article (the first of a grand series) I will review the event and give you a sense of what to expect before you go. Items covered will include everything from the physical venue to the general player culture of that event/meta. It is my hope this knowledge will arm a potential attendee with correct expectations.
Fall of the Emperor GT- Date: Oct-6-2018 Location: Mugu Games, Everett, WA Cost: $54.50 (price includes the sales tax) Mission Set: ITC Championship Prizes: Top 3 Players, Best Paint Overall Rating: 35/40 Personal Experience: Please see bottom section.
Location/Meta: 10/10 The initial impression of the store is spacious, clean, and well-lit. Most appreciatively, it uses soft yellowed lights to keep eye strain down (also to feel “warmer” in the gloomy Pacific Northwest Fall). The bathroom was small, but clean and well-lit- providing a dignified experience. My only complaint about the facilities was that they used cheap, scented soap (something I am personally allergic to).
Note: This store is the home base for the Mugu Legion ITC Team.
Having played beside, against, and with the Mugu Legion- I expected this to be a very welcoming, friendly meta and for myself personally to have a fantastic time. From the TO staff to the players I was less familiar with greeting me, I was left appreciated and welcomed. This meta is lady-friendly, it just lacks its “first woman”.
Cost/Food: 4/5 The cost of this event is completely competitive with all GT prices. However, their pre-order system was awkward and kicked out my pre-order and did not turn it into an actual order which caused me to have to buy my ticket morning of. I was not informed of the fact my pre-order had been dropped in any fashion. Having that happen is a relatively minor issue, but I do not enjoy the stress of not having my GT ticket secured in advance.
There are several eateries in the area as it is a through-fare. But most do require a car as there are no fast ones in the immediate shopping center. Mugu’s policy on bringing in outside food/drink is: bring it on in.
Terrain/Tables: 8/10 Mugu features beautifully painted terrain and full tables. Several of the tables featured relatively awkward pieces (wholly enclosed building table, Mount “Rushmore”, etc.) that were both fun and annoying to play around. Each table had a decent sideboard or several chairs. The numbering system was not logical which did make finding your table difficult. There was enough space around the tables to play comfortably and not experience the “butt-bump”.
Prizes: 3/5 This event featured the fastest awards ceremony ever. As the tournament was wrapping up, they distributed the prizes right on the end of the final round (the TO did a pre-check monitoring who was strongly winning games of the top 3). However, like most events, it featured only prizes for the top attendees and nothing for anyone else. Top-heavy prize support is passable, but not my personal preference. This GT did not feature any best-in-faction awards.
Personal Experience: Lamesauce I highly endorse the event and recommend it to anyone who wants a clean tournament experience in a friendly meta with kooky tables. It was fun! The event does have the potential to grow in both size and experience- it can certainly become one of the Seattle-area premiere events.
Why the Lamesauce? This had nothing to do with Mugu and everything to do with my opponent draw. My opponents featured 3 people from my own Oregon Meta (including abusepuppy) and Paul Winters (an opponent I had played 5/6 of the last events we had both co-attended). Basically I played people I could have played at home or had played the living crap out of already. My games were fine and fun, I just felt cheated of the opportunity to play some of the fantastic individuals from the Mugu Legion.
Note: I highly dislike playing abusepuppy at events. We already practice together way too often.